Generally, tire uniformity machines are used to test characteristics of tires after production. The testing may include measurement of the dimensional characteristics of the tire and the forces on the tire at varying loads. To accomplish load testing, the tire is brought into the tire uniformity machine, mounted on a chuck, inflated and rotated by a tire assembly coupled to the spindle of the chuck while a loadwheel is brought into contact with the periphery of the tire.
In existing tire uniformity machines, the tire is tested without being mounted on a rim. In this way, the chucking assembly of the tire uniformity machine is suitably sized to fill the generally cylindrical bore extending axially between the bead rings of the tire. Since the tire is inflated during testing, an airtight seal must be created between the tire and the chuck assembly. Typically, the chuck assembly is divided into upper and lower portions which converge at the tire to clamp the tire therebetween. Once the tire is clamped, it is inflated by air delivered through the chuck assembly and, then, rotated on the chuck assembly. To that end, one of the halves of the chuck is mounted on a driven spindle with the other being mounted on suitable bearings such that it may rotate with the driven half. Typically, the undriven half is moveable in the axial direction to raise or lower the tire to a testing position. After the tire is placed in the testing position, the spindle is rotated causing the tire to rotate at a selected speed. Once spindle rotation has started, a loadwheel is advanced radially to press against the tire until a desired loading is achieved and, at that point, test data is taken from load cells associated with the loadwheel. Once testing is completed, loadwheel retracts and the rotating spindle is stopped. The chuck halves are retracted to release the tire from the chuck assembly and lower the tire to the conveyor. Once the chuck assembly has cleared the tire, the conveyor may be activated to transport the tested tire from the tire uniformity machine.